MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2025
But Democrats more "out of touch!" We're prepared to admit it! Initially, we misunderstood this report from Mediate. It was the first such report we saw:
Dems Pounce On Trump Throwing A ‘Great Gatsby’ Party As Americans Suffer: ‘He Does Not Give a Damn About You’
Democrats pounced on Saturday as photos emerged of President Donald Trump’s lavish Halloween “Great Gatsby”-themed party at his Mar-a-Lago club, which they deemed tasteless on the eve of SNAP benefits running out for millions of Americans.
One political commentator posted an apropos quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece of the Roaring 1920s, writing, “They were careless people… they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
Rumored 2028 presidential hopeful Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) posted, “Donald Trump hosted a Great Gatsby party while SNAP benefits were about to disappear for 42 million Americans. He does not give a damn about you.”
Podcaster Harry Sisson, who was targeted in Trump’s bizarre AI-generated fighter-jet “poop” video, wrote, “Donald Trump was having a Great Gatsby themed Halloween party with his billionaire friends while millions of Americans went to bed wondering if they’ll be able to feed their kids this month. Trump is the worst.”
In fairness, we initially misunderstood the reference to a Great Gatsby "themed" soiree. At first, we assumed that must have been a bit of an editorial comment inserted by the Mediaite reporter.
As it turned out, no! USA Today opened its news report about the event with that same locution. It even used that formulation in its headline—but then, it seemed to explain:
Trump held 'Great Gatsby'-themed Halloween party as SNAP benefits were due to be cut off
President Donald Trump hosted a Great Gatsy-themed party at Mar-A-Lago on Oct. 31, as multiple federal judges ruled the administration could not stop funding food aid amid the ongoing government shutdown.
The party was labeled "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody" according to multiple media attendees. The title was drawn from a song on the soundtrack of the 2013 movie adaptation of "The Great Gatsby."
[...]
Guests were seen mimicking "Roaring 20's" era attire, a period just before the Great Depression that historians note for its staggering income inequity. History.com notes that in 1928 the top 1% of families received 23.9% of all pretax income and about 60% of families made less than the income level the Bureau of Labor Statistics classified as the minimum livable income for a family of five.
It sounded like the Gatsby theme had been conveyed to the guests. USA Today linked to this report by ABC News, which seemed to make the matter clear:
The "Great Gatsby" theme for the hoedown had come from the president himself! That idea had seemed so nutty that we had assumed it couldn't be true.
We ask forgiveness for our initial assumption, which seems to have been incorrect. As to a basic question—Under current circumstances, how could any politician build a party around that theme?—we remind you of the following piece of medical science:
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a personality disorder defined by a chronic pattern of behavior that disregards the rights and well-being of others. People with ASPD often exhibit behavior that conflicts with social norms, leading to issues with interpersonal relationships, employment, and legal matters. The condition generally manifests in childhood or early adolescence, with a high rate of associated conduct problems and a tendency for symptoms to peak in late adolescence and early adulthood.
The prognosis for ASPD is complex, with high variability in outcomes...
[...]
Epidemiology
The estimated lifetime prevalence of ASPD amongst the general population falls within 1% to 4%, skewed towards 6% men and 2% women...
Say what? According to that leading authority, something like six percent of adult men can be diagnosed with ASPD at some point in their lives. Can that possibly be accurate?
(We also note the reference to "individuals with severe ASPD symptoms." That suggests that there may be some such afflictions which are more severe, and some which may be milder.)
Presumably to its credit, the leading authority doesn't use the word "sociopath" at any point in its lengthy discussion of this "personality disorder."
According to an array of sources, "sociopath" is a purely colloquial term—a term which isn't used in clinical diagnosis. But it's the colloquial term which is commonly associated with a diagnosis of ASPD.
What could explain the apparent cluelessness which would seem to be involved in the decision to throw a Gatsby party even as federal food assistance (SNAP) was (temporarily?) ceasing to exist? Could the presence of that personality disorder, with its attendant "lack of concern for the well-being of others," possibly start to explain?
We assign ourselves the task of revisiting this topic because, thanks to a general rule of the guild, the leading news orgs in Blue America have agreed that they themselves never will. They've agreed that they will never interview any (carefully selected) medical specialists who may have professional experience with such "disorders."
It's also true that the New York Times, as of this very morning, seems to have published no news reports or opinion pieces about this fete which use the term "Gatsby" at all.
This news report in Sunday's print editions made a fleeting reference to a "Halloween party" at Mar-a-Lago, but then left things right there. You have to turn to Mediaite, or perhaps to USA Today, to read reports about this latest peculiar choice by the sitting president. For whatever reason, the Times continues to disappear and ignore—in that way, to normalize—the endless array of extremely peculiar behaviors and statements which emerge from President Trump.
Our guess would be that residents of Blue America are unaware of this choice by Silo Blue's leading newspaper. Under the circumstances, we'll also guess that most residents of Blue America would be puzzled by one part of this news report about a new survey by the Washington Post / ABC News / Ipsos:
Voters broadly disapprove of Trump but remain divided on midterms, poll finds
Americans broadly disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling his job, and a majority say he has gone too far in exercising the powers of his office, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll. But a year out from the 2026 midterm elections, there is little evidence that negative impressions of Trump’s performance have accrued to the benefit of the Democratic Party, with voters split almost evenly in their support for Democrats and Republicans.
Overall, 41 percent of Americans say they approve of the job Trump is doing, while 59 percent disapprove...
Respondents disapproved of the president's job performance by an 18-point margin. But as the Post's report goes on to note, when respondents were asked to say who's "out of touch with the concerns of most Americans," the numbers came out looking like this:
Question:
Do you think ... is in touch with the concerns of most people in the United States today, or is [he/it] out of touch?
Respondents saying "Out of touch:"
President Trump: 63%
Republican Party: 61%
Democratic Party: 68%
Those aren't gigantic margins. But respondents seemed to position the Democratic Party as most "out of touch" of them all.
Do those of us in Blue America understand some such result? We'll examine attendant questions all this week as we ponder that result.
The president said, "Let them eat cake"—but he's less "out of touch" than Blue America's political party! The Gatsby party hadn't happened when the survey took place, but that's what the survey said.
An array of factors may have contributed to that polling result. As we'll note, quite a few of those factors involve a problem with Them. Do any of those factors involve a possible problem with Us?
Our failing or failed American discourse lies in a state of rubble, rapidly moving toward chaos. Is it possible that some of that chaos tracks back Over Here, to Us?
Tomorrow: C-Span caller speaks
It is a pity I cannot watch 60 Minutes anymore since CBS has handed the keys of the asylum to the inmates.
ReplyDeleteBari Weiss jumped ship when she saw how the bread was being buttered. She's nobody's fool, but I don't think she has any ethics and that's why Trump gets to do what he wants now on TV.
DeleteIt is kind of odd that CBS would elect to run a full 60 Minutes interview on Sunday night with the Liar-in-chief who they actually paid $15 million to recently and expect anyone not is his cult to watch.
Delete"CHAOS: Let them eat cake, the president says!
ReplyDeleteMONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2025
But Democrats more "out of touch!" We're prepared to admit it!"
Somerby is prepared to admit that Democrats are more "out of touch" than cake-eating Republicans!
Absolutely! Somerby is prepared to admit any and all criticisms of the Democrats. His essay today is not about Trump's tone-deaf use of a Gatsby theme for his extravagant Mar a Lago party while SNAP benefits are still cut-off. It is about how "out-of-touch" respondents to a poll by the conservative Washington Post say the Democrats are. Because it is we Democrats who are the problem, not Trump's fancy-dress party in which rich people flaunt their wealth in the faces of needy constituents.
As usual, Somerby's closing line is about how bad we Democrats are, because randos in a conservative poll said so.
And notice that Somerby is plenty willing to ascribe a problem to us on the left, a "possible problem" he says without ever stating what that possibility might be. Given all of the vague complaints Somerby makes day-in and day-out about Democrats, he doesn't get specific, doesn't go beyond possibility. And as he has said many times, "anything is possible."
On the lefty websites, writers are asking who those respondents were that the Washington Post is surveying. Over here at TDH, Somerby is "prepared to admit" whatever they say, because we blues are capable of being whatever the Republicans say we are, with Somerby's approval.
"His essay today is not about Trump's tone-deaf use of a Gatsby theme for his extravagant Mar a Lago party while SNAP benefits are still cut-off."
DeleteActually, it was.
"how bad we Democrats are, because randos in a conservative poll said so."
It was a Washington Post/ABC poll and 'randos' are kind of who you're supposed to talk to in a well-designed poll.
Some polls tend to favor Dems and other polls tend to favor Republicans; polls have biases, for example most polls have Trump's approval in the 30s, but this Wash Post/ABC/Ipsos poll has Trump in the 40s, so this poll does seem a bit out of touch. Furthermore, it does not seem to be a well designed poll, since it does not offer any insight as to why people think these parties are out of touch - many people think Dems are out of touch because the party leaders are old school neoliberals that have blind support for Israel, so this would be hardly something Republicans (or Somerby) could cheer about. Indeed, the poll seems more designed to push some agenda than offer anything meaningful about the stances of Americans.
DeleteSomerby's post about how Democrats aren't wrong to point out that the Republican Party is celebrating while poor children to hungry, is all the proof I need that Somerby is not a Conservative.
DeleteExcept Somerby doesn't say that Democrats aren't wrong. He says he himself didn't believe the theme came from the President himself, then he ascribed it to mental disorder (ASPD) quoting the DSM again. He didn't go on and talk about the callousness of that party in the face of Halloween and SNAPless children. He expressed no empathy for those hungry. THAT makes it most likely Somerby is a conservative and not part of blue America.
Delete
ReplyDelete"Trump held 'Great Gatsby'-themed Halloween party as SNAP benefits were due to be cut off"
What does a (whatever themed) Halloween party have to do with SNAP benefits? Endlessly repeating this sort of bullshit is that makes you Democrats look like total morons.
Right, and what do gold toilet fixtures and redoing the Lincoln bedroom and building a huge ballroom have to do with SNAP benefits? Those SNAP benefits go to poor people and who gives a damn what happens to them when there is champagne to drink and semi-nude dancing girls at the president's golf motel?
DeleteHere is the point. In a democracy, the president is supposed to work as the servant of the people who elected him, carrying out the will of the people enacted by Congress in laws and representing our nation to other foreign leaders, directing unavoidable involvement in wars and spending our money wisely.
For that reason, presidents have deliberately chosen not to live in luxury but in modest circumstances, not decrepit but representing the middle-class prosperity of our country which we offer and try to provide to all, not just a fortunate few. That is why even wealthy politicians have traditionally down-played their wealth, connecting with voters by portraying themselves as similar to their constituents.
Trump's offensive display of wealth goes against these principles of what it means to live in and work toward democracy, for ALL of the people, as American values. Trump derides American values and destroys the symbols of American inclusiveness that were inherent in the founding of our country.
That is why what Trump is doing is an abomination. If Trump were not mentally incompetent, he would recognize the damage his "antics" have done to his favorability ratings and work to regain public trust. But Trump is both senile and mentally ill. What he is doing is self-defeating but he doesn't give a damn because he is not going to run again. So he doesn't care if he blows it all up with self-indulgence for himself and his cronies.
If you @11:53 are too stupid to understand how our country works, that is perhaps because blindly following a con artist like Trump leads to no good end for his supporters. You guys are among the biggest victims of his crimes and corruption. I would feel sorry for you, but you called Democrats morons for caring about our country.
Most of the people on SNAP live in red states and are dirt poor. They likely do not know about Trump's enjoy-the-wealty party and stunts like destroying the White House. That doesn't mean the rest of us shouldn't care about their suffering.
Lack of empathy is a Republican hallmark, not what characterizes Democrats, who try to improve lives for all citizens. If you are against helping SNAP recipients stay alive, especially the kids, then party on.
DeleteWell put, @11:53. It's a cheap trick to choose two unrelated things that would clash if they were really related. E.g., I recall a similar criticism of some some current event that happened in a place where there had been some atrocity many decades earlier. The current event had nothing to do with the past one. And, there was no reason to connect them up, except to find an excuse to claim victimhood.
DeleteIt seems too stupid to have to point out that that Trump's party didn't take food away from starving people. But, this is the connection that Trump's critics are implicitly making.
Troll @ 12:44, exceptionally fine way of expressing your ignorance!
Delete12:44,
DeleteThere's no connection between illegal immigrants and the thousands of murders committed by American citizens, annually.
Don't let bigoted assholes (Trump's Party), convince you otherwise.
Somerby didn't come right out and say that all Republican voters are fine with electing pedophiles, but it's pretty obvious that is what he is alluding too, here.
Delete12:44 You can only speculate about the Republican politicians and their intentions as they have been fastidiously absent from Washington for 6 weeks.
DeleteSomerby is going to ponder that negative poll result about out-of-touch Democrats all week long, he says.
ReplyDelete"Our failing or failed American discourse lies in a state of rubble, rapidly moving toward chaos."
Poll respondents are not part of our failing discourse, no matter what they say on surveys. They didn't write the questions. They merely check some boxes. There are plenty of "Democrats in disarray" negative stories about the Democrats all over American discourse. Somerby might analyze some of them, maybe this one:
https://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2025/11/just-stop-democrats-youve-done-enough.html
"I'll say it again: Democrats, if you don't want voters to think your party is "weak and woke," stop saying that it's "weak and woke" every time there's a microphone in your face. If voters have a bad impression of your party, maybe you're the problem.
This is a new 2024 post-mortem:
The nine-month, 21-state research project is ... aimed at solving the Democratic Party’s electoral challenges after their sweeping losses in 2024. It was funded by Democracy Matters, a nonprofit aligned with flagship Democratic super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, and backed by months of polling, dozens of focus groups and message testing.
It's not to be confused with the 2024 post-mortem we were all talking about last week:
Democrats have badly weakened their party with left-leaning ideas and rhetoric, growing only with self-described “white liberals” while losing ground with other voters, according to a new center-left group’s report....
The group, called Welcome, consulted hundreds of thousands of voters over six months for its broad findings....
Democrats need to stop doing so many damn post-mortems, and they need to stop publicly proclaiming that the party is in trouble. It would help if every Democrat ran on a set of serious, bold ideas that would imporve people's lives, which is the approach Zohran Mamdani is winning on. The ideas don't need to be the same all over the country, but they shouldn't be the beveled, focus-group-tested mush that's likely to result from all these post-mortems.
On other issues, they could try being proud of themselves, rather than ashamed. "
And again today George Clooney is in the news (NY Times) saying that Democrats are shit. Why does he even get an opinion -- he's a movie star not a politician or analyst?
There is an industry bashing Democrats that comes from the left, not the right. It comes from Somerby, who should be musing about this topic, not joining the fray to tell us he fully agrees with whoever has something bad to say about Democrats, including the Washington Post (now a conservative source). If Somerby had a solution to offer, it might be different, but he has nothing useful to say about whether Democrats are out of touch or not, because he is not one and he thinks it is OK to gush over ornamental food on porches while people are starving, and that makes him just as bad as Trump and his party-goers at Mar a Lago, right? Of course not, but I get the sense Somerby would agree with me about himself being worse than Republicans because he is pretending to be a clueless lefty. This stupid, self-defeating game needs to stop. Our focus should be on helping others, not navel-gazing over how bad Democrats are. Somerby included, no matter how he secretly votes.
"I get the sense Somerby would agree with me about himself being worse than Republicans because he is pretending to be a clueless lefty."
DeleteYou're projecting your own internal confusion onto Somerby.
Yeah, these slabby preachers are often incoherent.
DeleteLeroy
11:58's comment is a fairly easy read and makes the point that within the Democratic Party there are many dissatisfied people and they are vocal and impactful, which is different than with the Republican Party, thereby suggesting that Somerby's analysis of his cherry picked poll is weak and irrelevant.
DeleteAll Republicans have blind loyal support for Trump, specifically in opposition to Dems (maybe 2% does not), whereas many Dems oppose their own party, not because they support anything about Trump or Republican policies, but because they think the Dems are not progressive enough and are too beholden to lobbyists, corporate interests, and imperialists/colonizers (like AIPAC).
This is trivially obvious.
Nothing more convinces a reader of the rightness of your views than asserting that they are 'trivially obvious.'
Delete
DeleteNothing convinces a troll of your rightness.
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
ReplyDeletePresident Trump said Sunday that he knows “nothing” about Binance founder Changpeng Zhao despite pardoning the convicted crypto billionaire.
“I don’t know who he is,” Trump told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell in an interview for “60 Minutes” aired Sunday. “I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.”
LOL, poor impotent Norah O'Donnell. Too frightened to even ask the Mad King about Epstein.
DeleteWell over half the interview was edited out, leaving people wondering what Trump was on about when he lost his mind because they had edited a single response by Harris into a more succinct response but that conveyed the same answer.
DeleteA defining feature of Republicans is they are hypocrites and proud of it.
It is strange that more people think that Democrats are out of touch. I suspect that it has more to do with the non-stop stream of propaganda from the right and incessant navel-gazing from the Democratic consultants. However, I think that it'll not amount to much come election time. The general view of Democrats will have little impact of how people vote for a particular candidate.
ReplyDeleteIt is not that strange, starting with Clinton and continuing with Obama, Democrats took on their infamous Third Way/neoliberal/Republican-lite stance, so it is hardly surprising Democratic voters are a bit fed up with that.
DeleteIt is always enjoyable to read a supposed progressive taking a shit on President Clinton. People seem to forget that Clinton came after Ronald the Red won the biggest landslide of my lifetime. This is why our Republic has fallen to a goddam snake-oil salesman from Queens. Go ahead, take some more shots at President Clinton, that is sure to change things.
DeleteAt Long Last, the Details of the Trump Health Care Plan
ReplyDeletePRESIDENT TRUMP: I can fix healthcare, give them better healthcare for less money. Obamacare is-- is hurting people. Obamacare was a disaster from day one. I can fix it and make it good. I'd really rather start with a fresh plate, but if it's-- if it's required to keep it, we can make it much better.
But it's bad healthcare, and they're gonna get big increases, and that has nothing to do with me. That has to do with the fact that it was originally put into play. It's a shame. But we can make it better. Energy is way down. You know, you're gonna have $2 gasoline very soon.
Yes, the demented Mad King can just go out there and spew pure gibberish for an hour straight and his cult will not blink an eye. The WH press corps is completely useless, Congress has been dissolved, the Supreme Court is corrupted and will remain so for generations, the mainstream media has surrendered all independence as has most universities. The Pentagon is being run by a Fox cable news host who has nazi tattoos emblazoned on his chest, and he just recently kicked all independent press out of the Pentagon as he murders foreign citizens with impunity. The DOJ is being run by the mad king's lawyers now, so forget about any equal justice.
DeleteI think we are close to nuclear Armageddon. But Somerby writes about how this is all the Democrats fault. Wow.
Hector, I already heard the idiot wanna be king say that in 2016. In 2024 he had a concept of a plan. Kinda like his fucking ballroom.
DeleteAnyone who isn't a child rapist, or isn't perfectly fine with child rape, left the Republican Party over a dozen years ago.
ReplyDeleteI’m out of touch with the deplorables, and I plan to stay out of touch.
ReplyDeleteThe Trump administration told a judge that it would use contingency funds to pay at least some SNAP benefits during the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/03/snap-trump-food-court-shutdown.html
The judge ordered the nasty fucking idiot Admin to feed the poor you selfish fascist fucking pig of a useless old man.
DeleteThis is the same guy who said he pardoned a criminal he never heard of.
DeleteEconomically anxious* Republican voters are fine with poor children starving and billionaire elites getting huge tax breaks.
DeleteWho's arguing they aren't?
*media euphemism meaning bigoted pieces of shit
I get paid over 220 Bucks per hour working from home with 2 kids at home. i never thought i'd be able to do it but my best friend earns over 15k a month doing this and she convinced me to try. the potential with this is endless...
ReplyDeleteCOPY HERE➤➤ Www.Paycash1.site